43 Somni de la Raó is a paintig mural inspired by a Goya etching, located in the University of Barcelona

43 Somni de la raó is a 30m2 mural on the 5th floor of the Department of Philosophy, Geography and History at the University of Barcelona. The painting, inspired by plate 43 of the “Caprichos” series by Goya, The sleep of reason produces monsters, shows a group of grotesque figures rising out of the head of a sleeping figure - the artist himself who is in the lower right-hand corner. These figures then intertwine in a strange metamorphosis that occupies the whole mural.

This public work was executed as part of the practical programme directed by Professor Pere Salabert within the Masters programme in Advanced Studies in History of Art at the University of Barcelona. The work was painted in several phases which were envisaged as separate stages, each one complete in itself. Each stage involved a layer of painting which was then painted over with semi-transparent white paint allowing the traces of each stage to be guessed at, thus converting the mural into a sort of palimpsest. An audiovisual animation showing the different stages of creation of 43 Somni de la Raó enables the whole process of creation, as Salabert considers it, to be understood as a “strategic perspective”.

This work is another example of the growing importance that drawing has acquired in Marcel·lí Antúnez Roca’s work. Drawing fulfils several functions: it is an independent work, but it is also an intermediate activity between the conception and realisation of a new work. It can thus be considered, in a way, as an evocative hypothesis and as a possible root of future animations, as a source of inspiration or perhaps a motive for further artistic endeavours.